Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-04764

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 16 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it plans to confirm rail fares for 2022; whether rail fares will increase, and, if so, what the increase will be.

Question reference: S6W-04979

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 December 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 16 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications for grant assistance to deliver affordable housing above Affordable Housing Investment Benchmark level have been required to be withdrawn and resubmitted due to (a) contract offers having expired and (b) costs having increased since the initial application was submitted, in each quarter since Q1 2016.

Question reference: S6W-04800

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 16 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the scope will be of the forthcoming review of snaring.

A statutory review as required by section 11F of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 is currently underway which will be complete early in 2022.

We are also currently developing the scope for a wider review of aspects of snaring including the question of a ban. Details of this review will be announced in due course.

The Scottish Government is committed to upholding the highest standards of animal welfare and we shall, of course, engage widely with stakeholders as part of this work.

Question reference: S6W-04785

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 16 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many electric vehicle charging points are installed at each of its buildings, and which of its buildings have no such charging points.

The total number of electric vehicle charging points installed at each building on the core Scottish Government Estate is in the following table. Each charging point can charge 2 electric vehicles at the same time except the charging points at Bonnington, Atlantic Quay and Kirkwall which are single points.

PROPERTY	LOCATION	NUMBER OF CHARGING POINTS
Marine Laboratory	Aberdeen	6 Double Points
Ocean Trade Centre	Aberdeen	0
Fishery Office	Anstruther	0
Russell House	Ayr	0
Balivanich	Benbecula	0
Buckie Fishery Office	Buckie	0
Fishery Office	Campbeltown	0
Brooms Road	Dumfries	1 Double Point
Endeavour House	Dundee	0
Bute House	Edinburgh	1 Double Point
Governors House	Edinburgh	0
Saint Andrews House	Edinburgh	1 Double Point
Saughton House	Edinburgh	5 Double Points
Bonnington	Edinburgh	13 Single Points
Victoria Quay	Edinburgh	7 Double Points
SASA Labs	Edinburgh	6 Double Points
Alexander Fleming House	Elgin	0
Fishery Office	Eyemouth	0
Hadrian House	Falkirk	0
Fishery Office	Fraserburgh	0
Tweedbank	Galashiels	2 Double Points
Fruit Market	Glasgow	0
Atlantic Quay 5	Glasgow	1 Single Points
Atlantic Quay 4	Glasgow	0
The Links	Golspie	0
Cadzow Court	Hamilton	0
Bothwell House	Hamilton	0
Hamilton House	Hamilton	0
Longman House	Inverness	1 Double Point
Thainstone Court	Inverurie	1 Double Point
Fishery Office	Kinlochbervie	0
Unit 4B	Kinlochleven	0
Fishery Office	Kirkwall	0
Tankerness Lane	Kirkwall	1 Single Point
Fishery Office	Lerwick	0
Charlotte House	Lerwick	0
Denholm House	Livingston	0
Fishery Office	Lochinver	0
Fishery Office	Mallaig	0
Inchbraoch House	Montrose	0
Cameron House	Oban	3 Double Points
Strathearn House	Perth	0
Fishery Office	Peterhead	0
Fresh Water Laboratory	Pitlochry	1 Double Point
Scorrybreck	Portree	0
Fishery Office	Scrabster	0
Keith Street	Stornoway	0
Fishery Office	Stornoway	0
Station Street	Stranraer	0
Shieldaig Field Station	Strathcarron	0
Fishery Office	Tarbert	0
Strathbeg House	Thurso	2 Double Points
Crossapol	Tiree	0
Fishery Office	Ullapool	0

Question reference: S6W-04787

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 16 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many children and young people in each local authority area have received a free (a) laptop, (b) tablet and (c) Chromebook, in light of its commitment to deliver devices with free internet connection to 700,000 P1 to S6 pupils within 100 days of the May 2021 election.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all school-aged children and young people in Scotland have access to a digital device by the end of this parliament. Given the scale and complexity of this programme of work, the 100 days commitment was to commence planning not to deliver the devices.

In 2020/21, we provided £25 million of funding to councils across Scotland to tackle digital exclusion, resulting in over 72,000 pupils receiving a device to support their learning.

The following table shows the number of devices distributed via that funding, as reported by individual local authorities.

Local Authority	Devices Distributed
Aberdeen City	1777
Aberdeenshire	5008
Angus	2420
Argyll and Bute	1317
City of Edinburgh	2605
Clackmannanshire	828
Dumfries and Galloway	2371
Dundee City	2050
East Ayrshire	1837
East Dunbartonshire	1015
East Lothian	1806
East Renfrewshire	623
Falkirk	1840
Fife	5465
Glasgow City	7240
Highland	4499
Inverclyde	1107
Midlothian	1235
Moray	1315
Na h-Eileanan Siar	357
North Ayrshire	1734
North Lanarkshire	6026
Orkney Islands	275
Perth and Kinross	1507
Renfrewshire	1800
Scottish Borders	316
Shetland Islands	475
South Ayrshire	1512
South Lanarkshire	5544
Stirling	1794
West Dunbartonshire	2084
West Lothian	2905
Total	72687

Question reference: S6W-04569

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 16 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-02681 by Richard Lochhead on 22 September 2021, whether it will provide the information that was requested regarding the budget stream(s) from which the 10-year £500 million Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray will be drawn.

Question reference: S6O-00584

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that opportunities for retraining in green skills are available to workers currently employed in the oil and gas sector, to enable them to assist in reducing Scotland’s carbon emissions.

Question reference: S6O-00585

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the total value of applications received from local authorities was, as part of the £32 million Local Bridge Maintenance Fund.

Question reference: S6O-00587

Asked by: Marie McNair, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how its plans to bring ScotRail into public ownership are progressing.

Question reference: S6O-00588

Asked by: Karen Adam, MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that every GP has access to a dedicated mental wellbeing link worker.